No More Good Days
}} No More Good Days is the first episode of season one of FlashForward. It first aired on September 24, 2009. A mysterious global event causes everyone to simultaneously experience, for two minutes and seventeen seconds, his or her life six months in the future. Summary Mark Benford awakens in the wreckage of a car, apparently confused and a bit beaten up. He climbs out, distraught, and looks around to find himself amidst destruction and confused chaos. He screams for Demetri as he takes in his disturbing surroundings. Pre-Blackout Four hours earlier, Mark is getting ready for work. He greets his wife and child lovingly before heading out to his car through his broken garage door, where he sees his child's babysitter. Olivia calls Bryce Varley to see why he wasn't at work the day before but he doesn't answer. He is walking down a pier, looking around nervously. He looks out over the sea, glances passingly at his cell phone and intently at his California driver's license, then reaches into his bag and pulls out a gun. At what proves to be a meeting for alcoholics, Aaron Stark is describing his grief at receiving thirty-seven pounds or remains of what had been his 118-pound daughter Tracy from the Marine Corps and that he had taken a drink that night. Following the meeting, Mark asks Aaron why he had not yet called a nurse and acquaintance of Olivia named Amanda; Aaron agrees to call her. On a street in Los Angeles, Mark and Demetri are in a car, chatting about Demetri's upcoming wedding. Demetri is unhappy with his fiancée's choice for their wedding song, Islands in the Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. Mark, apparently bored, is reading the paper while Demetri snaps photographs with a telephoto lens of a meeting between a woman and two suspected terrorists, Khalid and Omar. Back at the Benford house, Nicole and Joel are engaging in foreplay on a couch. Nicole is worried about waking up Charlie, who is napping, but Joel convinces her not to worry. Olivia is preparing for surgery with a team of doctors. The three suspects Mark and Demetri are observing leave in a black SUV, which they follow. The SUV spots them and takes off quickly down the highway. Mark and Demetri chase after the car, swerving in and out of traffic. As they approach an intersection, the black SUV collides with a station wagon and makes a sharp turn. Mark and Demetri follow, narrowly escaping a collision of their own. As they haphazardly make their way to another intersection, they swerve around a car to find themselves heading directly for a gas tank truck. Demetri screams as the blackout begins. Blackout See: Global Black Out Post-Blackout .]] Immediately after the blackout, Mark is again in the wreckage of his car. He climbs out and again takes in his surroundings. He walks through the chaos, calling for Demetri. He walks past piles of bent metal and broken glass, dead bodies, fire, past screaming people who are running around, out of their minds with terror. Mark looks around, distraught in his helplessness. He climbs atop a car to see the entire city of Los Angeles in a state of chaotic destruction. Demetri spots him and they meet up. Bryce is lying on his back on the pier. We awakens to see a group of balloons soaring upwards. He hears the shouting of a surfer in the sea below and rushes to help. Aaron, who was working at the top of a power pole, awakens to find himself hanging by his safety harness and he calls for help. Olivia and her surgical team awaken to find their patient has died. Nicole is relieved to see that Charlie is okay. Mark and Demetri are trying to get a cell phone connection when they spot the black SUV. They pry it open to find the blonde woman inside. Demetri pulls her out violently and tells her he knew they were planning an attack and that the FBI knew about "the suitcase". Demetri calms down and convinces Mark to try to get to Olivia at the hospital. After a bit of reluctance, Mark takes off. On his way to the hospital, Mark encounters many disturbing sights: looting, a car crash, piles of dead bodies and a kangaroo. He encounters an electronics store with a crowd gathered around it, watching televisions reporting the worldwide blackout. At this time he hears from Olivia and instead heads to his office. At the FBI office four hours later, Mark enters a meeting wherein a a group of agents try to wrap their heads around the day's events. We discover that 877 planes crashed, along with countless cars and other fatalities. As the group talks, Mark interjects with the revelation that he did not simply "black out" and instead had a vision, and the group concurs. Later, Janis Hawk, Stan Wedeck, Mark and Demetri compare their visions and decide to open an investigation led by Mark, Demetri and Janis with help from a website where people can explain their visions. Mark and Demetri then retreat to Mark's office and begin analyzing his vision and building the Mosaic Investigation wall. The top of the wall features monthly calendar sheets from October 2009 through April 2010. Demetri stretches a string between October 6th and April 29th. made for her father.]] People share their visions with one another. At the hospital, Bryce and Olivia are worried about a young patient whose father can't be found. Bryce then reveals that he has been contemplating suicide and calls his vision "a gift from God." Olivia says that she saw the end of her marriage. In a dark kitchen, Aaron tells Mark that he saw his daughter alive in his vision, and Mark reveals he was drinking again and his worries about how that will affect his marriage. Later on, Mark and Olivia recount their visions to one another, although Marks omits his drinking. After their emotional discussion, Mark is sitting on a swing on a swing set in his back yard when his daughter walks up and says she had a bad dream. He takes her in his lap and she gives him the friendship bracelet he was wearing in his vision. Though he is disturbed, he allows her to fasten it around his wrist before hugging her tightly. At the hospital, Dylan Simcoe's father, who was also a part of Olivia's vision, arrives to be with his son. At the FBI office, Demetri is on the phone with Zoey when Janis calls him over to see security footage from Detroit showing a person walking around during the blackout. Trivia General * In a film clip released through the website www.jointhemosaic.com the date of the blackout is specified to October 6, 2009. * This episode's title image is the bracelet that Charlie made for her father. Ratings *This episode pulled in 12.5 million viewers on ABC in the United States. On Five in the United Kingdom, it had 3.2 million viewers, gaining a 13 percent share of the available audience at the time. Production Notes *This episode served as the pilot episode for the series. On May 8, 2009, the episode was screened before several ABC "network brass," and was received very well, prompting the network to order the production of thirteen episodes. *Four of the promotional flashes that aired during commercials between episodes of Lost were taken from this episode, be them actual flashes (like that of the Mosaic card or ultrasound) or events of the present (like that of the kangaroo or surfer). *A different cut of the TV spot discussing the GBO, as seen by several of the characters, is included in the "About the Mosaic" video. *The character of Dylan Simcoe is portrayed by two actors in this episode: Bryce Robinson and Ryan Wynott. Cultural References *An Oceanic Airlines billboard appears in the background of one scene, a reference to Lost. *Advertisements for both Lost and Desperate Housewives appear on the side of buses. Both shows air on ABC and are co-produced by ABC Studios. File:Oceanic airlines.png|Oceanic billboard easter egg File:Lostbus.jpg|Half of the Lost's logo on the Bus File:DesesperateBus.png|Desperate Housewive's logo on the Bus Literary Techniques *The entire premise of this show, as deliberately explained with the idea of flash forwards, is the foreshadowing of events. **This is also understood from what Charlie Benford said about her "dream", "I dreamt there where no more good days." Unanswered Questions Suspect Zero *Who is Suspect Zero? *Why did Suspect Zero not black out? Demetri *Why was Demetri not in the car immediately following the blackout? *Why didn't Demetri experience a flashforward during the blackout? *What was the "suitcase" Demetri said the FBI knew about? Flashes *Who is "D. Gibbons"? *What is Tracy's status? *What is the nature of the future seen in the flashforwards - is it destined to occur as seen, or can it be changed? Other *What caused the GBO? *What was a kangaroo doing running free in the streets of downtown Los Angeles? *What was the "heavy stuff" that drove Bryce to nearly committing suicide? 101 Category:Lloyd Simcoe Episodes Category:Bryce Varley Episodes Category:Nicole Kirby Episodes Category:Aaron Stark Episodes Category:Stanford Wedeck Episodes Category:Olivia Benford Episodes Category:Janis Hawk Episodes Category:Mark Benford Episodes Category:Demetri Noh Episodes